There are two methods which may be used to generate the mesh on imported Nonuniform Rational B-Splines (NURBS) surfaces.
Advancing Front
This is the default meshing method. It places nodes on the surface, then places nodes in the interior of the surface being meshed. It creates elements using these nodes. This method allows more control in the placement of the nodes, allows better conformance to the part surface, and can implement local density variations more smoothly. This method, which was introduced in MPI 5.1, is highly recommended for parts with fillets and other highly curved surfaces. Two options available with this meshing method were introduced in MPI 6.0 to improve aspect ratio; these options are off by default.
- Optimize aspect ratio by surface curvature control
- With this option on, mesh sizing is automatically adjusted to the local curvature on NURBS surfaces. This leads to better quality triangles with aspect ratios that approach that of an equilateral triangle.
- Optimize aspect ratio by proximity control
- With this option on, proximities between boundary curves are detected automatically and adequate mesh refinement is ensured at locations where boundaries are close to one another.
Legacy
This is the original meshing method that is available in all Autodesk Moldflow Insight releases. This meshing method places nodes on the surface, then creates elements using a simple "trim and notch" strategy. This method is the faster of the two, and is recommended for parts which do not have fillets and highly curved surfaces.